Tour--Chapter Three and Four
Tour--Chapter Three
We finally got out of the pool and I got towels
out of the closet and tossed one to everyone. The
guys each said "thanks.." when they got one. My mom
loved the fact that they are so polite. WE were
still out in the back cause my mom wouldn't let us in
while we were wet. WE all looked at each other and
started laughing again. We tried to get ourselves
towel dry but it didn't work. Good thing that the
mid-day Florida sun is really hot or we would never
have been dry. about 45 minutes later we were
finally dry and we went inside for lunch. My mom
made us 'empanadas' which are a type of Argentinian
meat pies. I was surprised that none of the guys
even looked skeptical when they first saw them.
After all if you've never had them before they look a
bit strange but they'r very good. AJ by himself ate
4, Kev 5, Bri 4, howie 5, and Nick scarfed down 6 of
them. Man guys can really inhale food. It was now
3:00 o'clock and we were running a bit late, we were
supposed to have left at 3:30. We had to make a
7:00 PM Miami show. Denise McLean(AJ's mom and their
tour manager) was a bit worried that we'd be late.
So The guys themselves loaded all my stuff (all of
it) into the bus and I turned to my parents. This
was going to be the first time that I would be
without them for this long. My mom kind of cried and
my dad repeated all his warnings to me (again for the
umptheenth time, but this time in Spanish), AJ looked
at him and told him not to worry that they were going
to take care of me (in Spanish which quite surprised
me). Nick whispered to me not to worry that their
manager was going to fly my parents to a concert in 2
weeks so they could see me. I smiled at him in
appreciation. We finally loaded ourselves onto the
bus. AJ wanted to take my dog, just kidding. "Don't
worry Mr. and Mrs. Terrosa, we'll treat Erika like
our little sister" Kevin said to them hanging out the
door of the bus. I thought to
myself.
We settled into the bus for the 1 1/2 hour bus ride.
The bus was HUGE. It was even bigger from the
inside
than the outside. It kind of looked like a super
mega camper. Right after the bus drivers chair there
were 7 seats arranged sort of like a living room
(facing each other) with a table in the middle. All
the seats were of a deep Navy blue fabric with specs
of teal in it. Then there were 3 seats with the
backs right against the right wall of the bus and the
same on the left side. There were luggage
compartments right above these chairs. Then there
was like a huge couch with a table in front of it
that could be lowered to make the couch into a bed.
On the other side of the same area was a mini kitchen
with fridge, stove and sink. I plopped myself down
on one of the six seats in the middle of the bus.
Nick sat down on my left, Brian, and Howie across
from me and Kevin and AJ were somewhere else. I was
thinking at how incredible all this was and I must
have spaced out because next thing I heard was
Brian's Angelic voice "Earth to Erika come in (makes
static noises),,,Earth to Erika over,,,). I realized
that I was spaced out. "ughh.. sorry Brian could you
say that again please?" " Yah I said is your
boyfriend going to miss you?" " no because I don't
have one. The guys at school are dorks. You can't
have a decent conversation wit them unless its about
wrestling or cars." " Well what do you do then?"
Nick asked me as he turned completely around to look
at me. " Let's see... I absolutely love to play
volleyball. I was center starter for my school team
three years in a row. I love going to the beach and
I plan to become a Marine biologist. I just got my
PADI certification, and I just had a major gallery
opening last week for all the art that I've done over
the last 2 year. That's the basic core of that
which is Erika"
"Very cool" was all that came out of Howie's
mouth.
"You're an artist?" asked me Nick. " ya.. I only
started 2 years ago, but it feels like its been in my
soul ever since I could remember". "Do you have any
with you?" Brian asked me and he seemed really
enthusiastic about it. " Not now you guys we have to
start warming up. its only 5 but you remember what
happened last time" Kevin said from behind Nick. "
Yes Sir.." nick and Brian said as if they were
saluting a military officer. I chuckled under my
breath. " What happened?" I asked intently. AJ
started " It was right before a show in 1996 in
France. Nick and I had been chatting with the press
and other people till about 45 minutes before the
concert, so we only got 20 minutes of warmup while we
were getting dressed. Right before we went on stage
we tried to a-capella 'Quit Playing Games and both
our voices were gone. The show was delayed about 1/2
an hour and the guys had to do it without us. They
told the audience we had gotten sick during the
flight from jet lag. The were NOT a happy crowd. So
now since then we start warming up 2 hours before the
concert.". "wow" I just sat there stunned. "On to
lighter subjects" came Howie's voice from across the
aisle. "What would you like us to start off with, me
lady?" Howie looked at me with his velvety eyes and
I was like "...ughh I don't know. I never thought
I would get to choose what I hear you guys sing. How
about..Just to Be Close to You?"" Your wish is our
command" they sang to me in unison. They were all
standing around me while I sat in the seat. It was
one rally comfortable seat, but then again it
would have to be if they had to travel in this bus
for months on end.
"1...2..3.. Like a Flower to a tree..." They sang in
a-capella. Their voices were like the ethereal
voices of angels in perfect harmony with one another.
As I sat there I melted into my chair listening to
them. Mrs. McLean who had been sitting in the couch
to my right said to me in a low voice so as not to
disturb the boys " Every time I hear them I am
amazed. Their voices always leave me dumbfounded".
I turned and smiled at her. The boys had finished and
I was in a daze. They all looked down at me and said
'what next?"
"How about 'Everybody'?" "no sweat, my favorite"
exclaimed AJ. They began to sing again. Every now
and then they'd stop to correct a harmony or make some
changes. Thats how we spent the next hour.
The bus came to a stop at what I figured was the
back of the Miami Arena. It was 6:00, two hours
before the concert. I peered out the window and
noticed that there were already trucks there
unloading musical equipment. We all got off the bus
and Mrs. Mclean told me to go with her cause the boys
had to change. I followed her, trying to stay out of
everyon's way. About 30 minutes later, I saw the
boys again. They were wearing the famous colored
racing outfits.
Tour--Chapter Four
I did the wolf whistle at them and we all
laughed. We were all standing on stage looking out
at the 16,897 seats that in two hours would be filled
with screaming fans. "I can't believe that just two
years ago I was sitting out in one of those seats
staring at you guys and now I'm ON stage. How
strange this world is." I said with a bit of wonder.
Brian pinched me really lightly and said smiling,
"wake up.." " sorry all this just seems so amazing
to me" " COME ON B-Rok, we gotta change" was AJ's and
Nick's voice from the back of the stage "Hold these
for me will you, me and Nick always take each other's
goggles and I want him to have to look for them". In
saying this Brian handed me his goggles and ran to
the other guys.
Mrs. Mclean came over to me and asked me to help
her with some junk. I helped her check the entrances
with the guards. About ten minutes later the boys
came out in sweats and were practicing their oh soo
awesome moves and dances. They spent about 45
minutes warming up their muscles and voices at the
same time. they were sweating like bats out of hell.
I watched the guys as I sat on the edge of the
stage. When they were finished I went up to them,
thank god for deodorant. I tossed them each a towel
and they thanked me. Bri was making funny faces and
we all started laughing. AJ came up to me and gave me
a big hug, BEFORE he had dried the sweat off of
himself "...aaghhhh.. AJ, was that really neccesary",
I said half disgusted half laughing.Kidding around I
went after him with a towel, but I didn't hit him we
all started laughing again.
The guys went back to change again, and the crew
finished rigging all the instruments and lights. It
was about 45 minutes before the concert was about to
change. Mrs. Mclean told me to go stand behind the
wall and not on the stage. She was really nice about
it. Right before I went to the back I noticed a few
dozen fans starting to file into the front seats.
While the guys were changing back into the racing
outfits I munched on a couple of carrot sticks. I
remembered that I had Brian's goggles hanging from my
back pocket. about ten minutes later the guys came
back out. Nick had his hair slicked back and I
noticed that it was shorter than before so they must
have clipped it while they were doing the make up.
Kevin was wearing his white outfit. They all looked
REALLY goood, but then again I reminded myself that
they would look HOT to me wearing a brown potato sack.
I handed Brian his goggles back and Nick gave
me this wicked look and said "soo you were the one
protecting his goggles from the masked thief uhh..?"
I smiled back at him and we all laughed again. The
crew dropped the curtain and I went back out on stage
to sneak a peek at the crowd. It was amazing. I
recognized a couple of my class mates who I always
disliked and felt the urge to stand in front of the
curtain and make them jealous. They guys were all
set and there were 11 minutes to the show. They
called me over for a group prayer. I'm catholic so I
had no problem with it. They did their own thing
after a couple of traditional prayers. I just
listened to that one and tried to memorize it for the
next show. The guys were all suddenly quiet. I
asked them what was wrong but they didn't answer so I
asked Mrs. Mclean. She told me " Ever since the
incident the last 10 minutes before a show they don't
talk to help their voices", " thanks I thought
something happened that I had not realized.".
She Moves and a local band 'beaches' opened for the
boys. The concert started. I sat backstage in a
place were I could be out of the way but still see
everything. The guys did some of the classics from
their first CDs then they did a couple of new ones
that I had heard on the bus with them. Every two or
three songs they would run back and change. At one
point they announced they would sing "I'll Never
break Your Heart". Knowing that they bring people
from the crowd I waited to see if it would be anyone
I knew. Then all of a sudden Kevin ran off stage and
came to me. He extended his had to me and said "come
on we want you out there" "..ughh allright"
I grabbed his hand, which was really sweaty and
stepped onto the stage. I could feel the bright
light and the eyes of thousands of envious girls on
me. It felt really nice. Kevin sat me down at one
of the tables and he sat across from me. They began
to sing. For the first time the whole day I blushed.
I was overpowered by his deep beautiful voice. He
then raised me out of the chair and we danced on
stage as he sang. I was just wearing shorts and a
white shirt. The five of them were wearing black
leather pants, white muscle shirts with
purpleish/black shirts over them. I danced really
close to Kevin and just let him rock me. I felt
really self-conscious. They stopped singing and Kevin
escorted me off stage back to where I was sitting and
he ran back. They ended the show with a new song. I
rally couldn't hear it all that well b/c all the
girls were screaming to the top of their lungs. I
don't blame them. They did four encores and finally
the curtain dropped. The fans were still screaming.
The guys quickly changed into the clothes they
arrived in and were escorted by their security guards
to the bus. I was already there. They didn't want
anything to happen to me so the body guards escorted
me during the fourth encore. Some girls had found
the bus, even though there were no markings on it
that suggested what it was. They flocked to the
door. When they saw the guys come out they stampeded
them. It took the boys 25 minutes to walk a distance
of maybe 10 yards. It was already 12:30 AM. They
finally got on the bus. Some girls who pressed
their faces against the glass saw me sitting next to
Howie and started screaming curses at me. I felt a
bit scared. "don't worry about it, it's bullet proof
glass and Bob would never let them get in. The guys
literally fell onto the seats. AJ just laid down
across the couch in the back. I was sitting in the
same seat as I had been earlier. Kevin sat down on
my left, Howie and Nick in front of me and Brian
collapsed on the first couch at the front of the bus.
I was wide awake with excitement, they on the other
hand looked ragged and worn, as if they climbed Mt.
Everest.
There was complete quiet on the bus for about 10
minutes. Kevin turned to me "so what did you think
of your first day as a BSB?" "Well I have tons of
newfound respect for the five of you. I can't imagine
how you manage to stay so normal and nice after
everything you have to go through in one night. I
don't think many people would be able to handle all
of this as well as you do" By now there was a tired
calmness in the bus. Brian had begun to snore and I
knew he was asleep. Nick through a pillow at him
and it hit Brian right in the back of the head. I was
a a bit shocked at first, although I did chuckle a
bit under my breath, but it got Brian to stop
snoring. Nick must have heard me because he looked at
me and made this really funny face like .
The bus had been running for about a half hour and
by now we were on the Turnpike heading for
Tallahassee. That was the next stop in two days. It
was pitch black outside and the light in the bus were
very dim. I started getting a bit weary too. "What
are you thinking about?" came Howie's voice to me
from across the aisle "Just how incredible this whole
day has been." "that's how I've felt everyday since
1993, just one dream coming true after the other" was
his reply.
"Shouldn't you guys sleep, I mean aren't you tired" "
yah but its the tired that our bodies are used to by
now" came AJ's answer from behind me and to my left.
He had his head propped up on the arm rest of the
couch to my right. Mrs.Mclean was doing some
paperwork on the table next to him. "So how long
have you lived in Boynton?" he continued "About three
years. I like it but there's not much to do and the
beach is pretty far from my house"I responded. "You
guys should rest some, there's still about an hour
before we get to the hotel and tomorrow you get the
day off home in Orlando so you want to be rested to
go home and sleep in your own beds" Mrs.Mclean said
to those of us who were still semi-awake. Brian was
already in deep sleep. Kevin was almost there. It
seemed like he was staying awake to be polite. Nick,
Howie, AJ, I, Mrs.Mclean and the bus driver were the
only ones awake and Nick, I , AJ, and Howie wouldn't
last much longer. We kept talking for about 15
minutes. Each time responses and comments were longer
in coming till finally we all dozed off.
We got to the hotel at 2:45 AM, there had bee
accident so it took longer. The guys were perfect
gentlemen. Although we all looked like zombies they
walked me to my room and each hugged me good night.
Howie gave me a little kiss on the cheek and said
"sleep tight don't let the bed bugs bite. Dormi
tranquila i profundamente". We said good night and
they went to their own rooms across the hall. Mrs.
Mclean was in the room next door that was connected
o mine. I changed into my PJs and she came in to
say good night. I finally got into bed at 3:30 AM,
the same time as a regular school night after I've
finished my homework. I fell asleep thinking of the
excitement of the day.
"beep...beep....beep..."
Read on!
